A Charmed Life

Rosina Elizabeth Lots-Ehlers

In December of 1799, Susanna Lotz went with her infant daughter, Rosina, to the Mount Vernon Estate, to visit Mr. Johann Christian Ehlers, the landscape gardener employed by Former President, General George Washington.  Her husband had once been the landscape assistant to Mr Ehlers.  While there, the General, who was very ill, and resting in what would be his deathbed, asked to hold the infant girl.  Susanna laid her daughter in his arms.  A few hours later, the General passed on.

Susanna also passed within a few years of that visit, followed soon after by her husband, Johann.  Young Rosina was sent to be raised by the Ehlers at Mt Vernon.  In about 1815, at the age of sixteen, she was married, under a large chestnut tree on the estate, to a very wealthy, although much older gentleman named Jacob Fortney Jr.  She was given away by Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, Bushrod Washington, nephew of the late President.  He had inherited Mt Vernon upon his uncle's death in 1799.

Jacob took Rosina (also called Rosanna) to live on Royal Street, in Alexandria, in the home bought and left to him, by his father, Jacob Sr.  I suspect that this home was the very building that had gained fame years earlier as Gadsby's Tavern and Hotel.

Jacob Fortney Sr bought the property in 1793.  John Gadsby leased the buildings from 1796 to 1808, running a Tavern and an Inn, that was the "center of Alexandria's economic, political, and social life".

The Mysterious Stranger

In October 1816, just a year after Rosina and Jacob Jr were wed, a man and his wife entered Gadsby's Tavern. They had been traveling by ship up the Atlantic Coast, when she fell ill. The ship diverted it's course and pulled into Alexandria Harbor, so that the man could take his wife ashore for care. They were put into Room 8 of the Inn, where it is said that the woman was nursed by Rosina Duffy.  She later, passed away, in her husband's arms. The name of the woman was never publicly revealed. She was buried in St Paul's Cemetery. Her husband commissioned a tombstone for her in the shape of a table, with an elegant inscription. He could not pay for the burial or the stone, and so he slipped away in the night. However, the townspeople made no fuss about it, and kept the identity of the man and woman a secret. It is believed that the woman was Theodosia Burr Alston, the daughter of Vice President Aaron Burr, who was disgraced after killing Alexander Hamilton in a duel. It is known that Theadosia had left South Carolina, on a ship bound for New York, but was never heard from again. It is also said that the spirit of the woman still haunts the Hotel to this day.

Just a few years later, Jacob passed, leaving the home to his wife, and two young children.  It wasn't long before Rosina married again, to Mr. George Hurd Duffy.  It's quite possible that they met through the Washington family.  George's father, John, was a renowned silversmith.  In 1793, John Duffey crafted a silver trowel which was used by George Washington to lay the cornerstone of the U.S. Capitol.  This same trowel was also used to lay cornerstones at the Smithsonian, U.S. Supreme Court, National Cathedral, Library of Congress, Thomas Jefferson Memorial and many other places of note. It is now on display at the George Washington Memorial Masonic Temple in Alexandria, Virginia.

In 1824, George Duffy, is known as a tavern keeper.  Throughout later years, he advertised himself as a "mechanic", working with gold, silver, steel and brass, a locksmith, a gunsmith, and a bell hanger.  In 1830, he was a maker of dental and surgical instruments, as well as cobbler's tools.

George died of tuberculosis in February of 1852, and Rosina went to live with her daughter Ann, who had married Charles Hall.  She later lived with, and died in the home of her daughter, Mary, who had married Stephen Swain.

At the time of her death, May 12 of 1897, Rosina Elizabeth Lotz-Ehlers Fortney Duffy was the oldest resident in Alexandria, at 97 and half years old.  She had approximately 11 children, 40 grandchildren, 95 great grandchildren, and 2 great great grandchildren.

A close friend of mine is a direct descendant of Jacob Fortney Sr.